Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1887-10-07
Goucatiopal Deparfmept


We nave seen schools tnht were 81
quiet as n room full OF horrors. w,
have seen the pupils sitting in strained
side, or arms folded, turning neither Il
the right nor the left, or, If moving
moving slowly, almost YEARLY with
downcast eye, on tip-toe, with hands
clasped behind the back, whispering
not, smiling not, with the light of the
eye dull, and all the joyousness of child.
hood driven from the faces of the pu-
pills by the tierceness of the methods OF
the petty tyrant in charge.
We have wondered whether the so.
called school was not prison, or q re.
formatory institution of some kind, and
we can remember how glad we were to
get out again into the free mir and the
bright sunshine of the outer world,
where we could again see child smile
and hear the merry laugh, and earnest
happy voices of those who were free.
We have heard such schools praised
as models of excellence, as schools OF
faultless discipline, whose teachers, Sc
earnest, so skilled, were worthy OF
memorials i'll brass or marble
We never heard what became of these
teachers. They are not mentioned
with Arnold, or Froebel, or PestaloZZi.
We are inclined to think that the pro-
crossing waves of modern educational
thought have overthrow or overlapped
them,' and has left to us no trace of
their doings or existence.
1t was not discipline, it was cruelty
torture, or deviltry. 1t was the OPP
preston of a weak child by strong
grown man or woman. 1t developed
neither strength of character, nor no.
bility of purpose. 1t drove out all JOY
BUSINESS, all love, and made the child
worse by far than if it had trained with
the gamins of the gutter. Who can saw
| that lives have not been wrecked by
| some pet cruelty of some petted teacher.
i Who can say that the moroseness, the
| sullenness, the petty spite or mean ac-
tons of some manhood may not have
been the result of acts of oppression,
committed thoughtlessly by the teacher
OF his boyhood?
Too much discipline, too much rule
and regulation, too much of the marti-
net in the formalities of the school
room is far worse than the absence of
all restraining rules. For, if child is
guided properly, carefully, thought
fully, it will develop for good, but if it
is continually and forcibly held back
If it is deprived of all freedom of speech
or action, it will place itself in antago-
nlsm to the teacher to the authority of
the school, to society. The antagonisn
wins i'll the contest, but it is at the ex-
pense of society. The bad boy, so
made by this faulty discipline, becomes
bad man. Who Is responsible?
We have, ip our later days, come to
see some poiMts on child manners and
movements, which We wish we had
seen when We were younger. We might
be happier We know we should he
prouder.
Many of the so-called disobediences
OF children are not wilful. Many of
their bad deeds are the result of IN
comfortable impulses. Very few Of
their bad acts are the results of DELHI
crate thought. Many OF them are the
results of parentage-of home training
and surroundings. Should we not.
then, carefully and patiently guide u
child into the right path if we suspect
such influences? Shall we beat it
back, or scold it back? Or shall we.
when it wanders from the path, place
1t again and again on the track until
the little feet, by Consistent going, have
worn path from and for its own
travelling.
Grown people have, many faults.
Teachers are not perfect They make
many mistakes. They slip from the
path occasionally-th ey commit dis
obediences to authority. They would
be much chagrined, if they, on all such
occasions, were held up to public re-
Duke or reproof. Should not the same
consideration, the same ct compassion, be
extended to the little ones The graces
OF patience are best seen in the treat
ment of children. 1t maj ses men look
like gods.
But who are children2 When do we
draw the line? When do wilfulness
and thoughtlessness cease e. When does
reason become the cont rolling force !?
We imagine that many of the Difficult
ties OF keel Ding school W 18th large boys
nave their origin in the supposition
that such pupils have pa :ssed into the
age OF rea son, when, in fact, they were
yet child .en.
The ira lining Of all the faculties is the
teachers province, but training is not
the work of moment Training is
slow, careful, deliberate, thoughtful
work, ard the best work of training in
any direction is the ONE which COM
plies with al. these condii ions.
Haste ma kes waste, here as else.
Leader.
be prom pit in commencing anf